A Simple Plan

The Pardoner’s Tale

·        Church corruption. In Chaucer’s time, the Catholic Church had parties involved with it that were quite corrupt.

·        This is transformed to a modern time where big business is the corrupt influence.

·        The Church was also the holder of all the big wealth in Chaucer’s time.

·        This also is transformed to a modern setting with big business also holding the bulk of the wealth in a commercial world.

·        The Church also acted as the highest authority during Chaucer’s time.

·        In A Simple Plan, local law enforcement acts as the authority. This is further emphasized in the film as the local police sheriff is shot dead by a man masquerading as an FBI agent.

·        Form. Chaucer’s work was designed to be performed because much of society could not read. For that reason he uses iambic pentameter and rhetoric.

·        This is transformed to a modern time where film is the most popular medium and hence, A Simple Plan, was made by Raimi into a film.

·        Chaucer’s tale contains no female characters, reflecting the values of the time.

·        Raimi has included Hank’s wife Sarah, who is very similar to Lady MacBeth, as modern audiences would not take to a film devoid of any female characters.

·        Death. Death is a central theme in Chaucer’s tale as the three rioters set out to defeat death.

·        Death is also a main theme in A Simple Plan as six murders occur throughout the film.

·        The rioters in the tale are in the pursuit of wealth.

·        Hank, Lou and Jacob are also in the pursuit of wealth but their quest is in the name of the “American Dream.”

·        Choice of weapons. In Chaucer’s tale, poison and daggers are the preferred method of murder.

·        In A Simple Plan, all of the murders occur by gunshot, and this reflects the attitudes of the American people towards guns and their rights to bear them.

·        The catalyst for the events that follow in the tale is gambling.

·        In the film, it is the action of hunting that acts as the catalyst. When they go hunting in the nature preserve illegally, its is then that they find the money.